Big-Bang experiment begins

Just in: First beam of protons are fired in the CERN 27-kilometre-long underground tunnel- Large Hadron Collider at the Swiss laboratory. The test is progressing on time schedule.1:19 PM 9/10/2008

Geneva, Sep 10: The scientist are ready for the D-day. If everything went well the secret of how the Universe was born will be revealed. Stage is set for the re-enactment of Big Bang that created the Universe around 13.7 billion years ago. It is the world's biggest and most sophisticated scienctific experiment. It will begin in Switzerland at 12.30(IST).

The engineers of Collider at the Europen Organisation for Nuclear Research(CERN) will attempt to circulate a beam of particles around the 27-kilometre-long underground tunnel at the Swiss laboratory. The $10 billion machine is designed to smash particles together with cataclysmic force, recreating conditions in the Universe moments after the Big Bang.

The world biggest scientific project was hit by a number of hurdles. Scientists have spent three decades building the tunnel and the project has been hit by cost overruns, equipment trouble and construction problems. The experiment has triggered a number of theories and speculations, that is could even create a black hole of intense gravity. Some beleive it could even be the end of Universe as this black hole could suck in Euorpe and perhaps the whole planet. Others have claimed that it could allow beings from another universe to invade through a hole in the space-time continuum. The scientists at CERN have vehemently rejected such claims and fears. They said it will not be end of the World.

The experiment to re-enact the Big Bang theory will start when the first beams of atomic particles will be fired around a 27-kilometre tunnel known as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The beams will then be fired in the opposite direction in about a month. The beams travelling in opposite directions will collide. The LHC machine at CERN promises the scientists a closer look at the makeup of matter, filling in gaps in knowledge or possibly reshaping theories.

The $9.2 billion project is organized by the 20 member nations of the European Organization for Nuclear Research or CERN. It has attracted researchers across the world. Around ten thousand scientists are working on the projects from about 80 nations.

The Big Bang theory is an effort to explain how the Universe was born. This is the most popular and plausible explanation of the origin of the Universe.